


Brain control, pt. 2

by books_are_painkillers



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel) - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, brain control, brain washing
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-03-03
Updated: 2019-03-03
Packaged: 2019-11-08 17:03:14
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,042
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17985149
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/books_are_painkillers/pseuds/books_are_painkillers
Summary: The Avengers minus Natasha went on a mission, and when they come back, Clint only reacts to commands. Natasha takes care of him while the rest tries to fix it.





	Brain control, pt. 2

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [Five Times Natasha Throws Up On One Of Her Teammates](https://archiveofourown.org/works/824257) by [Frances](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Frances/pseuds/Frances). 



“Where is he?”, Natasha stormed into the waiting room. Steve arose from the chair he was sitting in. “Natasha”, he said, stepping towards her. She glared at him and asked: “What happened?” “We were fighting Doombots at the corner of 5th and 42nd street and he was on the roof, and suddenly he fell. Tony caught him mid-fall, but Doom had injected him with something. They're currently checking him, but he doesn't react to anybody.” “And that's exactly why I wanted to be there!” “Natasha, you couldn't have done anything even if you would have been there” “It doesn't matter!” “You're still injured, it was too high a risk. Clint was the one who told you to stay home, you remember?” She just shot him a look that would've made Fury back off and brushed past Steve. “He's in the second room on the right. Banner's with him!”, Tony called after her.

Banner looked up when Natasha opened the door. “Hey”, he said and smiled at her. She ignored him and went straight to Clint, who was sitting on the examination table, staring at the wall. He had shown no reaction when Natasha had come in. Natasha stepped in front of him and carefully touched one shoulder. “Clint?”, she asked. He stared right through her. “Doom injected him with something. We found the puncture on his neck, but I didn't let the doctors examine him yet, I didn't want them to do anything you may not agree with and he didn't react, so...”, he trailed off. “Thank you, Bruce”, Natasha answered without looking away from Clint.  
The door opened again and a doctor stepped into the room. “Ah, you're here now”, she said to Natasha. “I was planning to take a blood sample, check his vitality signs and his brain. Is that okay with you? I would've started as soon as they brought him in, but Mr. Stark said something along the lines of 'If you like being alive, don't touch him until Romanoff's here'.” Natasha nodded and said: “Go ahead, doctor.” The doctor grabbed a syringe in order to draw blood from Clint. When he didn't react, Natasha frowned. “He absolutely hates needles”, she murmured. Bruce shot her a surprised look. Natasha stepped closer to Clint when the doctor came up to him again. “I just want to check his vitality signs. It appears that he has fallen into some kind of coma, but I need to do more tests”, she explained to Natasha. Natasha nodded, not moving a bit. The doctor checked Clint's pupils (normal), his reaction (non-existent) and his heart rate (a little fast). She turned to Natasha. “I would like to make a CT now” “Why?”, Natasha asked. “It appears that the injection caused him to fall in some sort of Persistent Vegetable State, but we will have to check his brain activity.” Natasha nodded again. “I will go with him”, she said, her tone not allowing any resistance. She helped the doctor put him in a wheelchair and followed them. “You can't go in there, but you can come into this room with me and watch him through the window”, the doctor said after they put Clint on the stretcher. Natasha thought about protesting but followed the doctor outside, not wanting to delay Clint's examination.  
The doctor looked at the results for a long time, remaining silent. “Doctor?”, Natasha asked after she waited a few more moments. “Well”, the doctor started. “The other tests suggested that he was in a Persistent Vegetative State, but in these images you can clearly see brain activity in regions that are not active during any kind of coma. I would like to try something. You two are rather close, right?” “Sort of”, Natasha murmured. “Please go in there and say his name. Make sure he stays where he is. When I give you a signal, try and make him go back to the examination room by himself.”  
Natasha nodded and stepped out of the room. She took a deep breath and opened the door leading to the room Clint was in. She closed the door after stepping into the room and approached him. “Clint?”, she asked quietly. When he showed no reaction, she repeated it, louder. She looked at the doctor who shook her head. She cleared her throat and said loudly: “Clint!” His hand twitched and the doctor gave her a thumbs up, smiling. Natasha took a deep breath and said: “Clint, will you come with me?” Nothing. “Clint, would you please sit up?” When he didn't move, Natasha did something she would never do given different circumstances. “Clint, follow me!”, she ordered. Clint sat up and stood next to her, looking at her without showing any reactions. “Come”, she said and went into the hallway, Clint right behind her. When she arrived at the examination room, she sent Banner out and ordered Clint to sit on the examination table.

The doctor came in 20 minutes later. She was holding multiple pages of what looked like lab results. “It appears that Agent Barton has been injected with some kind of Nano Bots. They can't be controlled from the outside, but they definitely influence him. Right now, I don't know how to get him out of this...” “Mind control?”, Natasha suggested. “Something like that”, the doctor agreed. “Does he listen to everybody?”, Natasha asked. “I don't know. Do you want to find it out?”, the doctor answered. Natasha nodded. “Clint, open a window”, the doctor said clearly. Clint arose from the examination table he was sitting on. When he reached out to open the window, Natasha said: “Stop! Return to me.” The doctor looked at her in surprise and said: “No!” Clint continued to walk to Natasha. “Oh”, she said. “Well, that's convenient. I guess I will take him with me and bring him to Stark. He knows a lot about Nano Bots”, she then explained to the doctor. “Clint, follow me.”

When they arrived in the waiting room, Clint always half a step behind her, Steve and Bruce were still there. “Hey, guys”, she said. “Hey. Is he alright?”, Bruce asked. “Not really. I have to get him to Stark.” Steve nodded and started walking towards the exit, knowing Clint would follow her. 

After a rather quiet car ride, they arrived at Stark Tower. “I'll get him changed and take him to Tony's lab”, she said to Steve and Bruce. Clint was still following her. They took the elevator to his floor and after telling him to stand by the door leading to the bathroom, she picked comfortable clothes for him and told him to go into the bathroom and undress. “Go take a shower”, she then demanded.  
When he stepped out of the shower, she turned around, not wanting to take advantage of his situation.  
They went down to Tony's lab and Natasha carefully explained the situation to Stark, hoping he wouldn't use Clint for anything. “I see”, Tony said thoughtfully. “I'll just take some blood samples to find out more about the Nano Bots and what they do. You okay with that?”, he added after looking at Natasha. She nodded. “Go ahead.” Tony took a syringe and started drawing blood. Natasha watched Clint closely, but he still didn't show any reaction. “You okay?”, Tony asked. Natasha snapped out of her thoughts. “What?”, she asked. “I asked whether you'd agree to doing some tests with me” “What tests?”, Natasha asked sceptically. “Don't worry, I'm not gonna hurt Birdie. I just want him to do some easy things without you interfering, and then I want him to attack you. If he does, tell him not to. If he doesn't listen, I need you to wrestle him down. Can you do that?” Natasha furrowed her brows. “I will not let him participate in any fighting until he's himself again”, she then said. “I don't want to find out whether he's ready for combat, I wanna know whether you can stop him if he goes rogue!”, Tony answered, sounding insulted. “You promise this?”, Natasha asked, stepping closer to Clint. Tony nodded. “Yeah. I might be a little crazy but I'm not stupid” “Okay”, Natasha answered. “Do it”. Tony made Clint do easy things, like pour a glass of water - which made Natasha shoot a dangerous look to Tony – or write down things – he only wrote down stuff Tony told him, not information Tony asked of him. Then Tony looked at Natasha. “Are you ready?”, he asked her. “Ready when you are”, she answered and positioned herself on the opposite side of the room. “Clint”, Tony said loudly. “Attack Natasha!” Clint didn't move. Tony repeated his command. Clint started moving towards Natasha. When Natasha didn't give the command to stop, Tony opened his mouth to stopClint but Natasha raised a hand to stop him from stopping Clint.

Clint started with a punch to her face which she blocked easily. He engaged again, trying to bring her down. After a few minutes of him attacking and her blocking it, she eventually demanded he would stop. He stopped immediately. Tony stared at her. “Why didn't you stop him?”, he asked her angrily. “I wanted to try something”, she answered. “And did you figure it out?”, he asked, still angry. “Yeah. He was pulling his punches. I could have brought him down easily” “And I thought I was crazy”, Tony muttered, shaking his head.”Do you think you can fix him?”, Natasha asked, ignoring Tony's comment. “I think so. Might take some time, though” “Better than nothing. Do you need to make any more tests?” “Nah, you can take him with you” “Thanks. You'll let me know if you find something, right?” “Sure”, Tony said, already writing down orders for JARVIS. She ordered Clint to follow her back to his room.

Natasha refused to leave Clint's side. For the next days, she stayed with him 24/7 and made sure he'd follow his usual daily schedule. After three days of Natasha not sleeping but keeping an eye on Clint at all time, Steve intervened. “Natasha, wait”, he stopped her when she came out of the gym, Clint following her. She stopped walking and looked at him expectantly. “You need to take a break! I know you're worried about him and you promised to look out for him but you need to rest. Please, let me look after him for a couple of hours while you get some rest. I will do what you had planned for him, I'll take him out for ice cream, go for a run with him, I don't care, but you need to get some sleep!” Natasha looked at him in surprise. She hadn't actually expect anybody to notice her lack of sleep. After a moment of consideration, she nodded slowly. “Okay”, she said. “Okay, you can look after him for a few hours. But no going outside, that's too dangerous. I guess you could just watch a movie with him or something, but be careful. He'll dismiss your orders the moment someone else tells him to do something different, so it's probably the best if you avoid the others. And definitely-” “Natasha”, Steve interrupted her slowly. “We have all been debriefed by Tony. We have agreed not to interfere if one of us has him and you're not around to stop him. I will take him to my floor and we will watch a movie, okay?” “Maybe you should go to his floor, I try not to mess up his usual schedule and he doesn't exactly spend much time at yours” “Okay, good idea”, Steve answered. “Thank you, Steve”, Natasha said and gave him a little smile, genuine and very rare. “You're welcome”, he answered, and ordered Clint to follow him after Natasha had dismissed him. “Oh, and Steve?” “Yes?”, Steve asked, turning around. “Don't forget to give him water regularly and maybe something to eat, he just worked out”, she suggested. “Of course”, Steve said softly. 

Natasha decided to go to Tony's lab first. “Where's bird brain?”, Tony asked when she entered. “Steve is looking after him for a couple of hours” “Maybe you should use the time off to get some rest”, Tony suggested. “I will, I just wanted to see how far you are first”, she answered. Tony looked at her. “I told you I'd inform you if I found anything”, he said surprised. “I know”; Natasha answered, “But...”, she trailed off. Tony gave her a knowing look, nodding. “I think I found something, give me a little more time though” “Okay, thank you”, Natasha said and went to the elevator. 

When she woke up a couple of hours later, she decided to take a shower after asking JARVIS how Steve did. She got dressed and braided her wet hair, then she went to Clint's floor. Steve and Clint sat on the couch and watched a documentary about Western Germany. There were two plates sitting on the table in front of them. “Hey”, Natasha said softly. Steve's head shot up. “Hello”, he answered and reached for the remote to pause the documentary. When Natasha looked at him questioningly, he explained: “I didn't really know what to watch or how he would react to different movies, so I thought I could refreshen my knowledge on what happened while I was in the ice and I thought that this might not be a sensible topic for him.” Natasha nodded. “Good thinking”, she said. “We also had dinner, so I guess you could do whatever you want with him now” “Thank you, Steve”, she said serious and genuine. “Anytime”, Steve answered and got up. But in the hallway, he nearly ran into Tony. “Romanoff”, he called, not bothering apologising to Steve. “I can't fix him. I can't fix him because he's fixing himself. The NanoBots are dying. I have come up with something that will fasten the process but that's all I can do”, he explained. “Oh, okay. Are you sure your thing will work?”, Natasha asked sceptically. “Of course”, Tony answered, sounding offended. “Then do it”, Natasha answered. Tony injected Clint with a solution in a syringe. “You should probably keep an eye on him”, he said.

For the next two days, nothing happened. She was barely alone with him now, one of the guys was always there to keep an eye on Clint. She didn't mind the company, even if it meant that she couldn't talk to Clint anymore and tell him bad jokes. What she didn't like was that they didn't trust her to be able to handle him if something happened. But she didn't complain. 

When she woke him up on the third morning after the injection, something seemed to be different. He looked AT her, not through her how he would usually do. She looked at him sceptically and he stared right back. “Go make a handstand”, she ordered. He looked at her quizzically, not moving. “Uh.. Why?”, he asked. Her whole face lit up. “Follow me to the gym”, she said. “It's 7am, why would I do that?”, he asked and closed his eyes again. “Go back to sleep, Tasha, it's way too early.” And just like that, he was out again. Natasha turned to Steve who was sitting in one of the armchairs he had dragged into the bedroom two days ago. “What just happened?”, she asked him and turned back to Clint. “Hey”, she said and nudged him. “Ouch”, Clint said. “Stop that” “Wake up!”, Natasha said loud. “Hmpfrgh”, Clint made and turned around. Natasha turned to Steve again. “I think it's out of his system. I guess you can go to sleep now, I'll stay for a while”, she said. Steve nodded slowly. “Are you sure?”, he asked. “Yeah, I'm good”, she said. Steve got up. “Good night then, I guess”, he said and left. When he turned around at the door, he saw Natasha crawling into the bed and cuddling into Clint's side before he closed the door. He smiled and left for his bed.

A few weeks later, nearly everything was back to normal. Clint was still a little shaken about being brainwashed again, but very thankful that they got him out of it. One night, when Steve couldn't sleep, he went out onto the shared floor. One of the advantages of living in the tower was that he wouldn't disturb anybody when he was walking around at night. But to his surprise, he found Clint sitting on the sofa. “Hey”, he greeted him. “What's up”, Clint answered. “I'm sorry, I didn't want to bother you. Are you waiting for Natasha?”, he asked. Natasha had been on a mission. “Something like that”, Clint mumbled. Steve poured himself a glass of water. “Would you mind if I turned on the tv?”, he then asked. “Sure, go ahead”, Clint answered. Steve sat down on the second sofa and turned the tv on. When he leant forward to put his glass on the table, he noticed a second person lying on the couch. It was Natasha. She was still in uniform and was asleep in Clint's lap. “Oh”, he said quietly. “I'm sorry, I didn't notice her. I can just go back to my room or-” “No, it's fine”, Clint answered. “I told her not to fall asleep her, it's her own fault. I just didn't want to wake her up yet, she was really exhausted when she came home.” Steve nodded slowly. “Okay, if you are sure..” “Not a problem, Cap”, Clint answered and took a streak of Natasha's red hair in his hand, absently playing with it while kind of paying attention to the movie that was playing.

After a while, Natasha moved. Steve saw her stir awake slowly from the corner of his eye. “Hey”, she murmured against Clint's stomach. “Hey, sweetheart”, Clint answered. “How long was I out?”, she asked. “A couple of hours, maybe. Ready to go to bed, now?”, he asked. She nodded, slowly sitting up. “Alright, come on then.” Then Natasha noticed Steve. “Oh, hey”, she said. “Hello”, he answered. She nodded once and stood up slowly, pulling Clint with her. “Good night, Steve”, she said and left, pulling Clint behind her. “Good night”, he answered.


End file.
